Orbis new state of the art Flying Eye Hospital is now ready for take-off and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, our supporters, for the part you played in getting this plane off the ground. All of you (supporters, partners and volunteers) played a part in one way or another – whether that was donating time, expertise, money or simply sharing our story with your friends. Thank you for helping make this happen. Even Cindy Crawford (pictured) is grateful for your support.
We are so excited about this launch. The new Flying Eye Hospital is equipped with everything the Orbis medical team needs to provide hands-on training to local eye care professionals and convey the know-how to save and restore sight for patients in their own countries. We transform lives by focusing on all areas of preventable blindness, from cataract—the world’s leading cause of avoidable blindness— to refractive error, glaucoma and strabismus (severe squint) as well as diabetes-related conditions, with a particular emphasis on tackling childhood blindness.
Orbis volunteers train the entire eye care team, from community health workers in rural clinics to eye surgeons in urban centres —a sustainable model that has proved invaluable for getting results around the world. The plane boasts new 3D filming and broadcast capabilities so that participants in the classroom can experience and learn from live surgeries with a view similar to the surgeon’s microscope lens.
The Flying Eye Hospital includes a 46-seat classroom, state-of-the-art AV/IT room, patient care and laser treatment room, operating room, sterilization room and a pre-and post-operative care room. The hospital suite comprises nine customized modules similar to commercial cargo containers. On a technical basis alone, this pioneering module approach will save money, time and resources.
The Flying Eye Hospital, or MD-10 as it’s known, was donated by our good friends at FedEx. It is faster and more economical than our previous plane meaning your contributions will stretch further than ever before.
The plane is currently touring the US on an awareness building mission, highlighting the issue of eye health care and demonstrating some of the best means of tackling it. It is then set for long distance flights to China, Indonesia and Vietnam to start training and equipping local health practitioners to help in the fight against preventable blindness.
